ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
A Study on Empowering Employee Capabilities Towards Organizational Excellence
Kokila Mohan
VIT Business School , VIT University
Koki.mohan90@gmail.com
Dr. Gomathi S.
VøT Business School, OB & HR Team, VIT University,
Tamilnadu, India, sgomatthi@vit.ac.in, gommatthi@gmail.com
Doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p557
Abstract
Employee development is an important factor for an Organisational excellence. This study highlights a model for employee
development starting from organizational need, planning, design and strategy implementation. An organizational excellence is
mainly dependent on its employee capabilities, skills and talents. The model developed by this study aims to improve the
employee capabilities in terms of their commitment in the work spot individually and collectively contributing for the
achievement of the organizational goals. This is purely a theoretical framework on employee capabilities leading to
organizational excellence.
Keywords: Employee development, employee capabilities, organizational excellence
1. Introduction
In any industry the employees are considered as the key success factor of the organization. The organization is fully
dependent on the employees for its functioning and growth. In that context the employees have to be motivated and
developed well in order to increase their job satisfaction and maintain employee retention. In this dynamic world the
organizations are struggling to stay in the market with their existing products and operations, they need to change
according to the market conditions were they should introduce new technologies and equipments to maintain the
standards. Towards the changes the employees were also insisted to improve their skills and capabilities. The
organization provides the training in order to improve the employee’s individual and technical efficiency. Managing
employees is one of the main functions of the human resource department, where they need to help the employees in
developing their individual capabilities (learning’s, attitude, skills, talent etc.), so they invest more money on employee’s
development. When the employees skills, learning’s, attitude increased it will have great impact on the performance of
employees. When the performance of the employee increases which would automatically leads to the organizational
excellence. This article explains the employee development model and gives the clear idea on employee development
which increases the capabilities and performance of employees to meet the organizational excellence.
557
ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
Figure 1. Employee Development Model
2. Organizational Need
The organizational need is defined by both internal and external factors. These factors create a need to the organization
to develop themselves towards excellence i.e. the employees are given training to develop themselves and advancement
made to the existing processes in the organization to improve its capabilities.
2.1 Internal Factor
Internal factors are the factors which creates the need to the organization within its own environment.
Organizational goals
Business plan
Strategies
2.1.1 Organizational Goals
The goals of the organization are of short- term and long- term which has estimations and completion periods. To be on
the perfect side organizations need to advance their processes and operations in order to achieve their targets on time.
558
ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
2.1.2 Business Plan
The business plan is the statement which consists of the set of organizational targets and the plans were it has to be
achieved in an efficient way. The business Plan may be internally focussed or externally focussed. These plans help the
employees to achieve their targets on time and prove their efficiency towards the work.
2.1.3 Strategies
The strategy is the framework which clearly defines the organizational needs towards change and development. These
strategies are also known as the action plans which fill the gap in the organizational need and it helps in improving the
employee’s capability.
2.2 External Factors
The external factors are the factors which creates the need of employee development outside the organization.
2.2.1 Competition
The competition creates the need to the organization and helps them to shape their strategies and the capabilities in
order to cope up with the competitors in the dynamic market. So they need to empower their employees which lead to
organizational efficiency.
2.2.2 Technology
All the organization relies on the technology for their improvement and development. The technology gives access to
enormous opportunities for business development. Where these technology becomes an essential element for any
business for its success.
2.2.3 Social Pressure
The social pressure has the influence on the organizational development and helps the organization to empower its
efficiency in order to fulfill its needs and improve the employee productivity. It includes peer group pressure, culture in the
organization etc.
3. Planning
Planning is a framework and a process of thinking which deals with organizing things to achieve the goals and objectives
of the organization. This planning process involves all the activities of the organization and helps the people in
understanding the goals and objectives which can be achieved in a stipulated time period and it act as a guideline to the
organization in achieving targets.
3.1 Cost
The activities associated with the employee development program are providing training to employees, coaching,
empowering, delegating etc. there will be cost involved with these programs and those costs should be planned before
execution. All the developmental plans involved cost and those costs should be estimated in order to predict the future.
3.2 Resource
The various resources in the organization are manpower, material, money, machinery etc. where these resources need to
be planned before involving it in the developmental process. The main resource in the organization is manpower
requirement (unskilled labour, skilled labour, professional and managerial) which is used to increase the organizational
efficiency through providing the efficient employees to the organization.
559
ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
4. Design
Based on the planning process the design of the program should be framed and developed which will create an impact
on the employee developmental program.
4.1 Functional Requirements
This functional requirement is the part of design process which helps the organization to know about their requirements in
developing the employee’s capability, encourage the employees and to enhance them in the organizational activities.
4.2 Key Competencies
Key competencies of the employees are analyzed clearly and the design should frame on the analyzed results, so that it
will fill the gap and helps in enhancing the employees to develop their skill, knowledge and learning.
5. Strategies for Promoting Employee Capabilities
The designed model should be implemented by the organization, so these strategies are followed by them to develop
those designs into an action plan. The strategies are;
5.1 Professional Development Worksheet (PDW)
The professional development work sheet helps an organisation to identify the employee development need and creates
the association into an action plan. This strategy involves various factors embedded in it they are; gaining selfawareness, seeking outside input, developing action plan, setting longer term goals etc.
5.2 Learning Activity Worksheet (LAW)
The learning activity worksheet is used by the organization after providing various training events to the employees.
Thereby employees are given suggestions on their training program and the gaps are filled by developing the strategies
framed by the organization.
6. Employee Development
Employee development is encouraging employees by training them and helping them to acquire new knowledge and skill
in order to make them perfect in this changing environment. And also it enhance them to feel their importance in all
decision making process. Various employee development process are involved they are,
6.1 Coaching
Coaching is developmental processes were the employees are supported and facilitated to achieve their specific targets
and goals. The expertized person in the area guides the employees in this process. This coaching enables the
employees and the organization to achieve their full potential and targets and it increases the employee commitment
towards the work.
6.2 Training
Training is teaching the specific skills, knowledge and capabilities to the employees in order to perform their tasks
efficiently. This training is conducted by the organization to develop the employees and to empower them in the modern
technology, techniques, and tools.
6.3 Participating
Employee participation encourages the employees to involve in the decision making process and encourage them to take
560
ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
responsibilities in developmental activities carried out by the organization. This employee participation is the part of
employee development model and it act as the motivational tool to enhance employees.
6.4 Engagement
Employee engagement is a framework which is designed to find the employees commitment towards the organizational
goals and values which will also lead to Organisation success.
6.5 Empowerment
Empowerment is enhancing and encouraging the employees to develop their skills and knowledge in a particular
organization. Were the employees are given chance to express their views on the decision made and improve their ability
to make decisions on their own.
6.6 Delegating
Delegating is the act of assigning tasks to the employee by the manager or the supervisor were this helps the employees
to make their presence in the managerial role and in the operations of the organization which helps in motivating them
towards the work.
7. Organizational Excellence
Organizational excellence is an integrated approach of organizational development and performance management.
Which mainly focuses on the empowerment and enhancement of employees were they can improve their capabilities and
make them more skillful to manage the change in the organization. And this will lead the organization to perform excellent
towards the standards.
8. Conclusion
Employee Development is a continuous process in any Organization. The development of an employee cannot be made
overnight, it is a systematic process of planning organization need , designing and formulating strategy for employee
development by sharpening their capabilities which in turn tones up the productivity for achieving Organizational
excellence. This paper highlights the methodological preparation of employees for facing the challenges in future
innovatively for updating the technology like robotics which implies a strong fact that it cannot replace human beings who
are very dynamic and sensible to the environment.
References
Abdul Hameed and Aamer Waheed, (2011). “Employee development and its affect on Employee Performance- A Conceptual
Framework”, International journal of business and social science, Vol.2. No.13 p 224-229.
Ajit Kumar Ghosh,(2013), “ Employee Empowerment: A Strategic Tool to obtain Sustainable Competitive Advantage”, International
Journal of Management Vol. 30 No. 3 Part 1 2013, p 95 -107
Amarjit Gill, Suraj P. Sharma, Neil Mathur and Smita Bhutani, “The Effects of Job Satisfaction and Work Experience on Employee-Desire
for Empowerment: A Comparative Study in Canada and India”, International Journal of Management Vol. 29 No. 1 Part 1 Mar
2012 p 190-200
Chay Hoon Lee and Norman T. Bruvold, (2003). “Creating value for employees: investment in employee development, Int. J. of Human
Resource Management Vol.14 No. 6 p 981–1000.
Cristina Simón and Gayle Allard, “Competitiveness and the employment relationship in Europe: Is there a global missing link in HRM?”,
Advances in International Management, Volume: 21, 2008
David Elloy,(2012), “ Effects of Ability Utilization, Job Influence and Organization Commitment on Employee Empowerment: An Empirical
Study”, International Journal of Management Vol. 29 No. 2 Part 2 June 2012, p 627-632
David Taylor and David Edge, “Personal development plans: unlocking the future”, Career Development International 2/1 [1997] p 21–23
Fred C. Lunenburg, “Human Resource Planning: Forecasting Demand and Supply”, International Journal of Management, Business, and
Administration Volume 15, Number 1, 2012
H. Ongori and J.P.W. Shunda, “Managing Behind the Scenes: Employee Empowerment”, International Journal of Applied Economics
and Finance 2(2): p 84-94, (2008) ISSN 1991-0886
561
ISSN 2039-2117 (online)
ISSN 2039-9340 (print)
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences
MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy
Vol 5 No 20
September 2014
Inger G. Stensaker and Christine B. Meyer, “Change experience and employee reactions: developing capabilities for change”, Personnel
Review Vol. 41 No. 1, 2012 pp. 106-124
Job P. Antony and Sanghamitra Bhattacharyya, “Measuring organizational performance and organizational excellence of SMEs – Part 2:
an empirical study on SMEs in India”, Measuring Business Excellence Volume: 14 Issue: 3 2010
Marion Lambert and Josiane Vero, “The capability to aspire for continuing training in France: The role of the environment shaped by
corporate training policy”, International Journal of Manpower Volume 34 issue 4, ISSN 0143-7720
Nick Bontis, Alexander Serenko, “The moderating role of human capital management practices on employee capabilities”, Journal of
Knowledge Management Volume: 11 Issue: 3 2007
Pamela Jewett and Deborah MacPhee, “ A dialogic conception of learning: collaborative peer coaching”, International Journal of
Mentoring and Coaching in Education Volume: 1 Issue: 1 2012
Petra Horvathova and Marie, “Acquisition of Talents from Organization's Internal Sources”, International Conference on Business and
Economics Research, vol.1 (2011) p5-9
Priya Shanmugam, R. Krishnaveni, “employee engagement: an introspection into its conceptualisation”, International Journal of Social
Science & Interdisciplinary Research vol.1 issue 9, September 2012, ISSN 2277 3630
R. Ganesan and Pathak Gauri, (2012). “Development of an empirical model to map motivators to deeply embedded life interests as a
strategy for improving employee performance through job sculpting”, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences vol. 58 p 331 –
339
Rachel Lofthouse and David Leat, “An activity theory perspective on peer coaching”, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in
Education Volume: 2 Issue: 1 2013
Soonhee Kim, Hyangsoo Lee, “Factors affecting employee knowledge acquisition and application capabilities”, Asia-Pacific Journal of
Business Administration Volume: 2 Issue: 2 2010
Subodh P. Kulkarni , “Sustaining the equality of employee voice: a dynamic capability”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis
Volume: 18 Issue: 4 2010
562